Virtually Human Studios is launching a reworked version of its digital horse racing game ZED Run as ZED Champions on the Base blockchain.
ZED Run, once among the most recognisable blockchain games, saw a sharp decline in activity and trading volume by early 2025. Following its closure in February, the team has opted for a reset to introduce new mechanics and move away from its original Polygon foundations.
Whilst horses from ZED Run do not carry over into ZED Champions, players who earned certain in-game badges in the original game were rewarded with new assets for the relaunch.
What is ZED Champions?
Zed Champions is a digital horse racing game that maintains core ideas from Zed Run—such as breeding and competing with virtual horses—whilst modifying the underlying mechanics. The game will launch with 4,320 digital horses, each tied to a balance of $ZED tokens.
Players do not need to manually enter races, as the system automatically matches horses of similar skill levels. This change is intended to reduce the time commitment required to participate in the game.
The $ZED token remains central to gameplay and will be used for race entry, breeding, and purchasing in-game items. A horse’s token balance increases or decreases based on race performance, and players have the option to retire their horses and claim the tokens.
What’s new in ZED Champions?
Unlike its predecessor, ZED Champions removes the need for active race scheduling. All races are automatically arranged, and matchmaking is handled by the game based on performance metrics.
The economic model has also changed with each horse having an internal $ZED token balance, and a percentage of this is staked in every race. Race outcomes affect token balances, creating a direct financial link between in-game performance and player rewards.
Players must decide whether to continue racing a horse or retire it to claim the remaining token balance. There is also a breeding component, where token costs and outcomes are tied to a horse’s past performance.
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